Al-Hijr (The Rock)

80. “And indeed the inhabitants of Hijr (also) rejected the messengers.”

81. “And We presented Our signs to them, but they turned away from them.”

The Arabic word ‘Al-Hijr’ is the name of a town in which the nation of Thamūd used to live. It also generally refers to a dwelling place as well. The term /hijr/ also refers to the lap of the mother and Arabic phrase Hijr-i-’Ism a’il and /hujrah/ are the derivatives of the same word.¹

Thus, the name of this Surah has been taken from this verse.

The verse says:

“And indeed the inhabitants of Hijr (also) rejected the messengers.”

One can conclude from the Qur’anic term /mursalin/ (messengers) that ‘the inhabitants of Hijr’ had also some prophets other than Hadrat-i-Salih. Some commentators say as the rejection of one prophet is, in fact, the rejection of all prophets, hence the term /mursalin/ has been mentioned here in this verse.

Anyway, the Qur’an continues regarding ‘the inhabitants of Hijr’ by saying:

“And We presented Our signs to them, but they turned away from them.”

The application of the sense ‘turning away’ in this verse indicates that they were not even ready to listen to the verses of Allah or to look at them.